SpiceJet’s on-time performance fell to just 34.5 percent in July, according to fresh Directorate General of Civil Aviation data, trailing far behind the rest of the domestic industry.
IndiGo topped the rankings with a 91.2 percent on-time performance, with Akasa Air close behind at 90.8 percent, while Air India posted 86.5 percent for the month.
The gap comes even as overall domestic air passenger traffic declined nearly 5 percent year-on-year in July, with Indian airlines carrying around 1.2 crore passengers.
IndiGo continued to dominate the domestic market with a 67.4 percent share and 80.82 lakh passengers, while the Air India group held a 24 percent share with 28.75 lakh passengers.
SpiceJet’s market share has fallen to just 1.6 percent, carrying only 1.87 lakh passengers in July, a sharp decline from the carrier’s earlier standing as a major domestic player.
The figures add to a difficult year for SpiceJet, which continues to face scrutiny over operational reliability while IndiGo and Akasa Air maintain consistently strong punctuality numbers.
Akasa Air carried 6.65 lakh passengers for a 5.5 percent market share in July, while SpiceJet’s share slipped further to just 1.6 percent with 1.87 lakh passengers.
DGCA’s on-time performance data covers 10 major airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Cochin, Guwahati and Lucknow.
Under DGCA’s criteria, a flight is classified as delayed if its departure is more than 15 minutes behind the scheduled time.
Overall flight cancellation rates across Indian carriers stood at 0.62 percent in July, with technical issues accounting for nearly 40 percent of all cancellations.
Among airports, Chennai recorded the best on-time performance overall at 96.7 percent in July, followed by Bengaluru at 94 percent and Hyderabad at 92.4 percent.
IndiGo carried 80.82 lakh passengers in July, giving it a dominant 67.4 percent share of the domestic market, well ahead of the Air India group’s 24 percent share.
Photo by Rehman Abubakr, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
